Multimedia Lesson Plan: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Grade Level: 10
Subject Areas: American Literature, U.S. History, Business, and Technology
Topic Description: Students will be completing research, composing an annotated bibliography, and using podcasts or vodcasts to record a radio show discussion or "studio reenactment" of a significant piece of history from the 1920s or 1930s. The broadcast can be about any popular topic from these decades as long as it holds (equal) weight in the following three areas: American Literature, American History, and American Business.
Objectives
Students will research their chosen topic by locating at least 5 valid sources to help expand their knowledge.
Students will compose a topic proposal, after drafting and revising if needed, that provides a clear overview of what will be discussed or depicted in the product.
Students will create a professional podcast or vodcast of a radio program or reenactment as the performance product.
Students will explain in detail, using their podcast or vodcast, topics of the 1920s and 1930s that impacted history, business, and literature in the United States.
Students will display teamwork and cooperative learning skills, critical thinking and creativity, as well as time management responsibilities as a result of completing their media project.
Online Resources
Audacity: Students could use this program if they choose to create a podcast.
LearnOutLoud: Students could browse this site for example podcasts to listen to before they create their own; this site also has video examples.
Podcasts and Vodcasts Instruction: This is a useful slide presentation that teachers and students can reference about creating podcasts and vodcasts. This presentation provides a variety of resource links to sites where teachers can set up a classroom streaming page for the students' creations.
Procedure (Activities, Discussion, and Learning Opportunities)
The following lesson can be completed in about 1-2 weeks, given that the students would work on some of the components outside of class.
Part 1 (Getting Started): Choosing Topics, Locating and Citing Sources, and Writing Topic Proposals
Students will hold an informal discussion about the rationale for completing an interdisciplinary project. Teacher can summarize student responses on a display board.
Students will review how to properly find and evaluate sources from a presentation and video clips provided by the teacher.
Students may work individually or in groups of no more than three for this project. Groups will choose their topics and begin internet and/or library research. Each group must locate a minimum of 5 valid sources. Possible topic starters are listed below; students may choose another topic with teacher approval:
Flappers/the status of women
Automobiles
Sports of the 1920s: Dempsey, Babe Ruth, etc.
Radio - KDKA
The Stock Market Crash
The Economy during the Great Depression
FDR
Hoover
Harlem Renaissance
Students will write an annotated bibliography of their chosen sources so the teacher can formatively assess the reliability of information the students find and the students' ability to cite correctly.
Students will write a draft of their topic proposal after completing the research stage. They will also need to decide if they will complete a radio show podcast or a reenactment vodcast (or other combination). Topic proposals should provide an outline of what will be discussed and shown in the final product. Students will swap their proposal drafts with another group and receive feedback in regard to how they can improve the proposals. Groups will hold brief conferences with the teacher to get the final proposals where they need to be. Examples of what topic proposals should look like:
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, race relations in southern United States are exposed in the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s, a town whose members have been hit hard by the Great Depression. In a radio broadcast, both white and black members of the Maycomb community will be interviewed; questions will focus on how they earn their living in light of the depression, their views on segregation, and their opinion of Atticus Finch taking on the defense case of Tom Robinson.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the lifestyles of the rich and the famous during the Roaring Twenties are narrated by Nick Carraway louder than ever: prohibition produced bootleggers like Jay Gatsby, flappers were changing what it meant to be a woman, and the economic hierarchy of new money vs. old money was on prominent display. In a reenactment vodcast, an underground "speak-easy" atmosphere will be depicted in which bootleggers discuss the current economy and how they make their "new money."
Part 2: Final Product Creations, Presentations, and Discussions
Recap: Students may make a radio broadcast (podcast) pretending to be in the time period of the 20s or 30s and cover the events, people, etc. of the their selected topic. Or, students may make a vodcast where they reenact a chosen scenario or sequence of events from the 20s or 30s. They must keep in mind that the topic they choose must combine aspects of American literature, history, and business.
Students will write an outline of their script of either their podcast or vodcast and like the activity in Part I, student groups will switch with another group (different from the first time) and provide constructive feedback on the scripts. Perhaps this part can be done electronically on a wiki or with Google docs to save class time.
After receiving feedback on the scripts, students will record and fine tune their final products. They will all receive a copy of the rubric that will be used to grade the final product prior to publishing it to be assessed.
Podcasts and vodcasts will be posted to a website and shared with the entire class; a Q&A discussion should take place after each student presentation during class time. Students may be quizzed on the content of the presentations, or a class competition can be held for the best project.
Assessments
Formative assessments: Students will be observed by the teacher during each step of the process. As described above, students will take part in their own formative assessments during feedback sessions. The topic proposal and script-writing process are both great opportunities for formative assessment. Also, the teacher will hold mini conferences along the way and ask probing questions as groups are working, "Have you thought about this? What could you do here?" etc.
Summative assessment: There will be a performance assessment of the podcasts and vodcasts based on the content in the presentations and the Q&A discussions with a formal rubric.
Home > Group A Workspace > Learning Activity 5-D-1: Scott, Megan, Matt
Multimedia Lesson Plan: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Grade Level: 10
Subject Areas: American Literature, U.S. History, Business, and Technology
Topic Description: Students will be completing research, composing an annotated bibliography, and using podcasts or vodcasts to record a radio show discussion or "studio reenactment" of a significant piece of history from the 1920s or 1930s. The broadcast can be about any popular topic from these decades as long as it holds (equal) weight in the following three areas: American Literature, American History, and American Business.
Objectives
Online Resources
Procedure (Activities, Discussion, and Learning Opportunities)
The following lesson can be completed in about 1-2 weeks, given that the students would work on some of the components outside of class.Part 1 (Getting Started): Choosing Topics, Locating and Citing Sources, and Writing Topic Proposals
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, race relations in southern United States are exposed in the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s, a town whose members have been hit hard by the Great Depression. In a radio broadcast, both white and black members of the Maycomb community will be interviewed; questions will focus on how they earn their living in light of the depression, their views on segregation, and their opinion of Atticus Finch taking on the defense case of Tom Robinson.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the lifestyles of the rich and the famous during the Roaring Twenties are narrated by Nick Carraway louder than ever: prohibition produced bootleggers like Jay Gatsby, flappers were changing what it meant to be a woman, and the economic hierarchy of new money vs. old money was on prominent display. In a reenactment vodcast, an underground "speak-easy" atmosphere will be depicted in which bootleggers discuss the current economy and how they make their "new money."
Part 2: Final Product Creations, Presentations, and Discussions
Assessments
Formative assessments: Students will be observed by the teacher during each step of the process. As described above, students will take part in their own formative assessments during feedback sessions. The topic proposal and script-writing process are both great opportunities for formative assessment. Also, the teacher will hold mini conferences along the way and ask probing questions as groups are working, "Have you thought about this? What could you do here?" etc.
Summative assessment: There will be a performance assessment of the podcasts and vodcasts based on the content in the presentations and the Q&A discussions with a formal rubric.